Category: VIDEO PRODUCTION

Tips and Advise on Video Production

  • My YouTube Vlogging Story And Lessons I Have Learnt

    Creatives in the YouTube vlog business face many hurdles in their journey to success. Vlogging is a practical business school of it’s own. Those who have succeeded and now earns from this channels are good examples of resilient creators.

    Sadly, people who have not vlogged before cannot understand the REAL meaning of ‘giving up on something‘ until they get involved in the vlogging business.

    black video camera

    The most common question I am ask by people is; do you make money from your blog or YouTube channel? Its a really tricky question because the value one gets by creating content is beyond money.

    In this blogpost, I will share my vlogging story as well as some hurdles creatives go through to get their videos out there to their targeted audiences.

    The Creative Process

    “What I am going to share?” That’s what goes through the mind of a creator each week when planning to produce their content. With time, one realizes that unique and original content takes time to create and sell.

    Video:- My Vlogging Story & Lessons I Have Learnt

    My regular blogging and vlogging experience has thought me that google and YouTube algorithms are unpredictable. It therefore means that the only way to beat it is to come up with original content targeted at a very specific niche/market.

    It took me a year to realize this. At my early stages, like any newbie creator I wanted ‘many views.’ In the channels I owned in the past, I bought ‘views’. This never made any difference in my life apart from seeing that I had many views on my videos:-). I was getting no feedback from those who watched or liked the videos I created.

    I did this for a year. Over this period, I realized that the contentment I wanted from it was missing. So, I had to sit down and rethink on my content.

    Why was I having a YouTube channel in the first place? What was my purpose? Thinking through these questions helped me restart and reorganize myself again.

    My Vlogging Story

    In my life, I have had more than 5 YouTube channels that are no more. The first original one was suspended back in the year 2014. I was not told the reason why despite trying to appeal unsuccessfully. The channel that followed after that was similar to the original one but never got anywhere because I was not getting views like I did in the first channel.

    The third channel was for my business which I closed it down this year 2021 because of permanent dissolution of my company.

    The other two was targeting a niche market. I was leveraging on information found on the internet to create the videos. I will explain how I did this in a moment.

    Leveraging On Information Found Online to Create Content

    If you search on YouTube today, ‘How to make money on YouTube without shooting/creating any video‘ you will get several video tutorials showing you how to do it. I find many of these tutorials ‘predatory’ in some way depending on how you look at them. If you believe that video creation is art- and you are an artist- I suggest you don’t follow what any of these videos tell you because you will end up wasting your time.

    With that said let me tell what happened after I followed one of the video tutorials. So, I stumbled upon the video while scrolling down on YouTube.

    The idea is to produce videos on a daily basis on the trending topics they tell you. For example, today you may decide to do a video about ‘Health.‘ Lets say that based on your SEO keyword research, you notice that many people are searching for ‘How to lose belly fat.‘ You google the same and find many articles talking about belly fat.

    The idea here is to use someone else’s blogpost to create the video. You copy word by word but reorganize the points. For example, if the article is about 10 ways to lose belly fat, you create a video about top 5 ways to lose belly fat. You get the point right?

    Next step, is to open a Cloud Text-to-Speech app or software and paste your script there. In this blogpost, I will use Google text to speech online program. Choose the voice over you want (either male or female) and click play to listen and record the script.

    Google Text to speech synthesizer

    Download free videos and photos online relevant to your script. Match it with voice over recording from text to speech program and add a free music from YouTube Music Library. Create a nice intro and outro for branding. Once ready post your video on YouTube.

    Credit the blog author in the video description area by pasting a link to the blogpost you got your script from.

    This sounds like a good and legit idea right?

    The Question is How Sustainable is it?

    At the beginning of taking this route, you will find yourself very excited that you are finally building a YouTube channel. This is especially if you love video editing. But the excitement will only last long if you intend to use your channel to market your ‘video editing skills.’

    If your motivation is to make money out of your channel, the probability of being disappointed by the ‘search engine‘ algorithms is high. For the six months that I ran my channel this way, I never succeeded to make any dime. I used to post 2-3 times a week.

    It therefore means that having a purpose for starting to vlog at the very beginning in very important.

    What is ‘A Purpose‘ in Vlogging?

    goal lettering text on black background

    I will try to define this from my own experience. Having been fully suspended or expelled from YouTube once and having ran unsuccessful channels in the past, I have found out that having a YouTube Channel is not about the views you get. It’s about the contentment you get from creating the content.

    YouTubing is an art. You must resonate with your target audience. My channel on Freelance and business is about a year now and it doesn’t have several views as one would expect.

    This doesn’t worry me at all because, I am sure a time will come when I will be able to connect with very specific audience on YouTube. When that time comes, those who will be subscribing to my channel will be real fans.

    That’s what will give me more contentment. It starts with the creator being proud of their content. This only comes when you are original.

    Avoid Greed On Your Way Up

    Don’t be greedy to have many channels. Run one channel consistently until it’s successful. When that happens, you can consider having a second channel when you are capable of hiring someone to run it. Greed took toll on me earlier thus I did not succeed.

    When you are able to overcome greed, you will be in a good position to explore your creativity to the latter.

    So What Does It Take to Succeed?

    When you are able to take care of your psychological issues surrounding starting a YouTube channel, it will be very easy to remain consistent once you begin.

    Success begins with you. Do you like the information you are sharing on your vlogs? Do you enjoy writing your scripts? Attach your vision to the content that you create.

    Link your idea to the business that you are doing.

    For example, at the end of my every vlog, I tell people about my business. Also, at the description area of each of the video that I post, I have a link to my business and my blog.

    I believe if one does this for a long-time, it will help them grow their business in many ways i.e SEO, backlinking e.t.c

    Conclusion

    If you do something that you love, you will enjoy the process and getting many views will be the last thing that will worry you. Your mental health is directly linked with the content that you create. If the information is useful to you, it will also be useful to others because people will react by responding.

    What do you think people should focus on in order to succeed on YouTube Vlogging? Share your thoughts in the comments section below here.

    And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, you can request a free quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 5 Factors To Consider When Preparing a Quotation

    There are many factors that comes into play when preparing a quotation. Many of the factors relies much on the amount of information you have as a contractor from your prospect.

    Insufficient information from a prospective client on the work they want done is one factor that makes the process of preparing a quote difficult. This however, should not be the case if you are dealing with online prospective client.

    photo of head bust print artwork
    Photo by meo on Pexels.com

    As a freelancer or a contractor, you have a right to ask for more information from the client. The client on the other hand must cooperate and provide you with all the necessary information in order to prepare a fair quote.

    You must be willing to withdraw from preparing a quotation the moment the client fails to furnish you with all the necessary information.

    In this blogpost, I will share 5 factors to consider preparing a quotation.

    Video: Factors to Consider When Preparing a Quotation

    Company History

    Are you sending a quote to a company that is well know or is it a startup? Irrespective of how good their contract description is, knowing if the company exist should be your first priority.

    This involves doing your own research using all the resources available out there. The research will help you cage the company’s ability to gather for the costs for the project besides making the payment on time.

    You may find out from your research that the company has good track record in paying their contractors very well.

    Time/Duration of The Contract

    Based on your prospects brief, how much time will you require in order to work on and complete the work? Is it a long term contract that stretches for more than a year? As they say time is money. Use your experience to estimate the time it will take to complete the project at hand.

    yellow and white alarm clock
    Photo by KoolShooters on Pexels.com

    The quotation process will be fast and easy when you have an hourly rate that you charge for different kinds of assignments. If you don’t have an hourly rate, consider setting up one. If you already have an hourly rate set, great! Next, calculate the time it will take you to complete the contract. E.g 10 days working for 5 hours daily. That will come to a total of 50 hours. Multiply this with your rate to get the cost service.

    Fees & Taxes

    Lets first start with fees. Fees varies. It can be the amount that your payment processor charges or the commission that you pay whoever referred to the contract. On the other hand, Tax is the percentage of money that is deducted from your pay to be remitted to your government as revenue.

    Taxes for services rendered online are different from the taxes levied on services rendered offline. When preparing a quotation, consider both to avoid getting into losses after completing the contract.

    Contingency Fee

    Contingency fee is a fee set aside for use in events or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty. In the online marketplace, it can be the unbudgeted cost that comes in between the service delivery. e.g If it was a video production project, and the client never foresaw requiring more interviews to be conducted for the project and it happens that it has to be done within the approved budget, this is the time that you will have to reach for the contingency fee.

    However, it’s important to note that this money will be your profit if no emergency work arises at the height of your contract.

    Include Revision Fees In Your Quote

    If you offer revisions for every project that you deliver, you must set a reasonable fee to cover your time when you make revisions as needed. Make sure that you deliver the best in order to avoid being asked to make revisions on the project.

    calculator and notepad placed on usa dollars stack
    Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

    After completing the rounds of revisions that you listed in your offer, let the client know how much you expect him/her to pay for other additional revisions. Making this clear before the contract will enhance your quotation besides setting the right expectations for the client.

    These are 5 among the many other important factors one needs to consider when preparing a quotation.

    With all above factors considered, preparing a quote will take you very little time. Also, you will very confident when defending your quote.

    Conclusion

    Try as much as you can not to inquire from your peers how much they charge in order to apply the same rates in your quote. Our lifestyles and responsibilities vary. You will not learn anything when you use other peoples rates as yours.

    Come up with your own rates, and if you make losses in the process of working, you will know where to adjust. That’s how true enterprises start and grow. You learn from real life experiences.

    What factors do you consider when preparing a quotation? Please share your feedback in the comments section below.

    And if you need professional screencast video production services, you can request a free quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Top Tips To Subcontracting Work

    As freelancers and entrepreneurs, we find ourselves in situations where there is a need to subcontract work due to growing demand. It’s not that we lack the skills to do the work, but its because we have a lot at hand and need help from other Freelancers.

    So, in what occasions should you sub-contract and not to sub-contract a project?

    Well, in this blogpost, I will cover when to sub-contract work and when not sub-contract work.

    What’s Subcontracting?

    crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign
    Subcontracting Work. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

    Subcontracting in the online marketplace or any other marketplace means bringing in an outside company or a contractor, to help you complete certain work or a project that you are unable to do. To help you understand this better, I will use Videography as an example. Let’s say, I get invited to shoot video by 3 clients on the same day.

    Based on our work history together, each of the clients individually insists that I take the job. As an entrepreneur or freelancer, I have to find a solution. The solution will be recruiting other professionals with good skills in videography to help me out. I will then give them instructions on what to shoot.

    This in a nutshell, is subcontracting. I am the one who is assigned the contract and I have other guys or agencies doing the actual job.

    Watch video

    When To Subcontract

    When You Have More Than You Can Handle

    As detailed above, when you have a lot of work at hand, its wise and healthy to subcontract. It will seem a bit difficult when subcontracting for the first time. When you have done it once, repeating the same will be easy. Take advantage of such subcontracting opportunities to make more money and build a network of like minded professionals.

    When You Don’t Have the Skills Needed

    woman typing on laptop
    Online Copywriter at work. Photo by Startup Stock Photos on Pexels.com

    In the online marketplace, sometimes the skills you have can’t help you. For example, if you are a direct response copywriter and a client wants you to write a copy on a new Cryptocurrency Token- a product you are not familiar with; what will you do if the job needs to be completed urgently?

    In order for you to deliver the best copy, you will need take time and learn about the cryptocurrency token in question by comparing it with other related services.

    With the abundance of freelance direct response copy writers in very specific niches online, it will be worth your time to hire a professional cryptocurrency copywriter to help you out.

    When You Are Ill

    young man in sleepwear suffering from headache in morning
    Sick Freelancer. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

    Good health is the key to success. If you are not feeling well at the time you are awarded the contract, the only you can make that money is by getting someone else to do the work for you as you recover. In other words, you need to subcontract.

    When You are Away on Vacation

    Even when on vacation, freelancers and entrepreneurs still get excited when they are awarded contracts or asked to send a proposal. If the job is coming from a client you have worked with in the past, you will not want to lose that contract owing to the relationship you have with them.

    By subcontracting, you will still be able to enjoy your vacation while the job is getting done.

    When Not To Subcontract

    When In The Middle of Contract

    Any contract that you have initiated work on is not worth subcontracting. There are many reasons to this. One is the cost that comes with sub-contracting. You may lose time and money in the process. Its therefore important to factor in time and cost when planning to subcontract.

    If there is a need to sub-contract, do your evaluation first and see if its possible to complete the work internally without seeking services of an external contractor. Secondly, the training that you have to give to the new contractor is time consuming and exhausting. You have to show them how far you are, your workflow process, the iterations made already so there is no repeat e.t.c.

    At the end you will realize that you would have rather assigned them the project as a new contract rather than let them pick from where you left.

    When Your Past Experience With a Client Wasn’t Good

    photo of woman writing on tablet computer while using laptop
    Freelancer working at home. Photo by Anthony Shkraba on Pexels.com

    If you have worked with a difficult client in the past, you know what I mean. If the same client returns and you previously had a difficult time working on their project, you might tempted to accept the work, and sub-contract. This might be prompted by the fact you will be able transfer the stress to the immediate contractor. While this might be a witty idea, you may end up making losses in process.

    The best thing to do is not to accept the contract all together. Tell them you are fully occupied. This way, you will be able to take on work with people you enjoy working with.

    If The Client is Nosey

    Some clients are nosey. After you are done interviewing and they have awarded you the contract, they still follow you around to find out if it’s you who is really doing the job. This in my opinion is disgusting. A normal clients’ concern should be to get the work completed on time. Otherwise, why would someone waste their time making unscrupulous investigations on whether I am the person actually doing the job?

    This is unless subcontracting conditions was stated clearly on the contract that there is no subcontracting. Otherwise, taking work from nosey clients is not worth.

    If the prospect sounds nosey at the verge of hiring, reconsider accepting the contract. They will keep asking you things that are not in anyway related to the contract at hand.

    Conclusion

    Success comes with vigilance. I know you need money, and good money comes from making the right decisions when it comes to subcontracting. If you don’t take for granted any of the above instances, you are sure to reap most from subcontracting work.

    I hope the information I have shared here on subcontracting was helpful to you.

    In what instances do you reconsider subcontracting a job or a contract?

    Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

    And if you need help with screen-cast video production or videography, you can request a free quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • How To Pay For Services In Nairobi County Online- Nairobi eServices Portal Review

    Its accessible on www.nairobiservices.go.ke. Through this portal, you can make payments for any public service easily and quickly. If you live and operate your business within the Nairobi County- then you might be aware of Nairobi eServices Portal after having received an SMS from them.

    If you live and operate your business within the Nairobi County- then you might be aware of Nairobi eServices Portal after having received an SMS from them.

    Nairobi eServices Portal

    It is aims to serve tech savvy people time which they could have spent queuing and waiting to be served in the county offices within Nairobi area.

    In this blog post, I will be reviewing the Nairobi eServices Portal.

    Registration Process

    In order to start accessing the services via the Nairobi eServices Portal, you need to create an account. You can create an account as an individual or a business. The first step is choosing your Citizenship then entering your National ID serial number then clicking next.

    Signing up on Nairobi eServices Portal

    As an individual, you will be required to enter your mothers first name as per the ID. I guess this is aimed at locking out fraudulent users who may attempt using other people’s credentials to sign up. Next, enter your KRA PIN and click register.

    On the new screen, create a password and check on the small box to complete your sign up process. From here, you can proceed and choose the service you are looking for.

    In Demand Services

    In demand services are the services that you need in order to successfully carry out your day to day business activities. These includes Paying for parking within the CBD, obtaining permits for social events within the city, business licensing, public health management, payments for county properties and more.

    Services on Nairobi eServices Portal

    These are few among the many services that you can access on Nairobi eServices portal. This in my opinion is a good move by the county government to make paying for in demand services easy.

    Communication and Support

    You can get support easily incase you get stuck while signing up on the portal or proceeding to make payments for any of the listed services. You can write to them a message , send them an e-mail or give them a call using the contact information provided on the contacts page.

    Before you contact support, it’s always good you check on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for answers.

    Parking Management

    Once you have signed in to the portal, you can choose a parking package. This includes daily, seasonal, off-street and reserved parking. For the service that you choose, you will be prompted to enter Vehicle Number plate and the Parking Zone. Then enter your MPESA number and an M-pesa payment request shall display on your phone. Enter your M-pesa PIN and click OK.

    There is USSD option where users can make payments by dialing *647#.

    You can view all these services and more by visiting their Website on www.nairobiservices.go.ke.

    If you get stuck in the process of signing up or trying to get a particular service on the portal, again, I recommend that you go to the FAQ page first.

    Its important to note that the Nairobi eService Portal is managed by the Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA).

    I hope this review was helpful to you.

    Have you tried accessing Nairobi Services via this portal? How was you experience like? You can share your feedback in the comments section below.

    And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos for your website or software, let me know here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Why Being Jack of a Trades Will Fail You In Freelancing

    Mindset is the key to success in freelancing. While we all learn from failures, there is a particular savage mindset that bars many freelancers who are talented in many fields from exploiting their full potential.

    When one is gifted with many skills, greed creeps in. Many new and established freelancers are gifted hence they think that by offering services for every skill they possess, they will make more money and hence become stinking rich. I mean who doesn’t want to be rich anyway?. It is a fact we all do.

    Watch Video

    Motivational gurus will tell you this ‘Challenge yourself and learn new skill every month.” This quote can only apply if you are not contented with your current skills and is looking for something you are passionate about. Otherwise, for what purpose should you learn the new skills anyway?”.

    In this blogpost, I will share with you how to unbecome Jack of trades.

    How Jack of All Trades Quote Apply in Freelancing

    I will use my skillset as an example to break this down for you. I am a Freelance Video Producer. This therefore means I fall in the video production category. On a freelance platform like Upwork, video production is broken down into many other subcategories as shown in the screenshot below. This is a good place start and experiment on various related skills.

    Jack of all Trades

    You can be a jack of all trades when starting up. I suggest you don’t do it for a long time. Narrow down to something that you find exciting to do This is the most important stage. The problem most of the time is freelancers inability to settle on one skill after many years. This thus takes me to the next point.

    The Greed That Comes Attached to Being a Jack of All Trades

    girl capital luck business
    Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

    I know of a guy in my village who offers basically every service. If someone needs veterinary service for their livestock – he is there, if you laptop crashes – he will fix it, if your toilet tap leak- he is the guy to call, if you need a surveyor to measure your land- he is the go to expert. I mean he does almost everything well. Such people are talented.

    Their potential for success is very high. But the reality on the ground is, they are not that much successful at all. They live reckless life’s. They tend to be careless spenders and poor at saving their earnings.

    This behavior is as a result of being greedy. When you are greedy to do every job, you will not have time to plan and invest your income. It’s common to think that you are achieving more by doing many things but in the real sense, you are loosing it. That is why I recommend narrowing down your ‘trades‘ to one skill that you love and it guarantees you constant income.

    In Short, Don’t Be A ‘Jack of All Trades’

    I applaud freelancers who are talented in many skills. Fact is, you cannot exhaust all the skills in this world. You will get tired, old and confused if are obsessed with learning everything without settling down on one thing.

    Be the ‘Jack‘ when you are starting up and grow into a master of one. Mastery is where freedom lies.

    Its Expensive to Master Everything

    stack of american paper money on black background
    Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

    Most freelancing jobs require that you use a certain software to do the job. If you have to offer lets say 6 skills that uses 6 different software’s, you will then need to pay for each software annually. On average, software cost about $200 a year. This means you will spend about $1200 a year on software’s alone. Then, more time perfecting your skills to use the software’s.

    And don’t tell me about using cracked software’s because its professionally unacceptable.

    One downside of this is that you may find yourself using one of the software 2 to 3 times a year for jobs with value of less than $200. This makes it a poor investment.

    Conclusion

    Being a Jack of All Trades at the beginning of your freelancing career and a Master of one at the end is good. Once you have found a skill that you are passionate about, become a master and stick to it. There will be high and low tides on your way up. The power lies in your persistence.

    And that is it from me here. What freelancing skills have you mastered? I would like to know about it in the comments section below.

    And if you need help with screencast videos, request a free quote here.

    Until next time time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Shifting Gears From Working As a Freelancer to Hiring Fellow Freelancers

    The courage to shift gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers to collaborate with you on a project requires a proper set of mind.

    Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad classify wealth acquisition process in 4 categories that he calls ‘Cashflow Quadrant.’

    Video – Shifting gears from working as a freelancer to hiring other freelancers

    The first quadrant is Employee- who earns money by holding unto a job. His/her income is limited to monthly salary. The second quadrant is Self Employed- who works for himself or owns the job. He has control of what he does. Freelancers fall on this quadrant of self employed.

    Transitioning from Freelancing to business requires courage, faith and change of mindset.

    In this blogpost, I will point out different opportunities you should take advantage of as a freelancer and transition from Freelancing to business.

    When You win Mega Contract

    When you have a good reputation on any popular freelancing site, you will get hired for big projects. For example, I regularly get hired for high value contracts in video production. Since I am good at video editing, I prefer hire a script writer, voice over artist, 3D animator to help me where needed in the video production process.

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    Not everyone will do this. They would rather do the whole job and have all the money than hire a fellow freelancer. If you do this, you will limit yourself from growth. Also, you will find yourself always busy and not having time for yourself. Take advantage of such openings to start learning to hire and setting up your business or agency.

    Temptation to Learn a Skill For The Sake of Money

    woman sitting on concrete stairs using laptop

    Lets say, I get a well paying 3D animation contract for the first time. My first thought will be to learn how to model and animate 3D characters because the pay looks good. That will require me to dedicate a lot of time on learning how to do it perfectly. On the other hand, if I have a business mindset, I will do my math and hire a freelance expert in 3D animation to do the job.

    At the end, I will worry less about doing the job and shift focus to commenting and criticizing on the completed work. At the end, we will both take credit for the job.
    I recommend freelancers to take this route so long as they are able to profit from the project and deliver quality service.

    When You Are Travelling

    I assume Freelancers plan and go for vacations at least once a year. With this said, if a long term client you have been working with sends you an e-mail on the day you are travelling and asks you to work on an urgent project, what will you do? Will you cancel your air ticket so as to attend to the client needs?
    Most freelancers will cancel their plans and get back to work.

    person holding world globe facing mountain


    But what if you could find someone with skills same as yours to step in for you and do the job at a lower fee? Wouldn’t that be great? That’s exactly what you should do, post the job for freelancers to apply and hire someone to do the job on your behalf. Once done, send the completed work to the client.
    Being able to reason this way alone might forever change your life.

    This are 3 among the many instances that I suggest you hire a fellow freelancer to work with you.
    Small actions like this will stimulate your growth. You will be free to do many other exciting things in life.

    And that’s it from me.

    In what instances do you hire freelancers to collaborate with you? How has it changed your life?
    Share your feedback in the comments section below.

    And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast videos, you can request a FREE quote here.

    Untill next time bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 5 Features I Love On Camtasia 2021

    In the past few months, I have found 5 new features I love on Camtasia 2021 software which I would like to share it with you today. This is based on my experience recording and editing screencast videos and my vlogs. At the end of this blog post, I will share my favorite feature that is available in all versions of Camtasia studio that I discovered 5 years ago.

    Get Started Screen

    The new get started screen is noticeable. It looks modern and sleek. The webinars, video tutorials and academy has been put together under one menu item called learning.
    Also, help link was not there in the earlier versions. While this is a good thing, I feel people will rarely use this link unless Camtasia program crashes😒 which rarely happens.

    Camtasia 2021 Get Started Screen

    Overall, I love the get started screen. It always reminds me that I am using the latest version of the software😁.

    Camtasia Recorder

    There are two things I love about the Camtasia 2021 recorder. The first one is the new interface. It looks different. All the important controls are now modified and larger than before. By sliding on the respective buttons on each feature, I can choose what to record and what not to. For instance, by sliding the system audio button to the right, I chose to record system audio. Sliding it to the left, I turn it off.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    The second thing I love about Camtasia 2021 recorder is not having to minimize the recorder while recording. This is unless its blocking the buttons I am suppose to click when recording the screens. Otherwise, by default, the recorder will not appear on your screen recordings like it used to in the previous versions. So you don’t have to worry about it. Its worth pointing out that you can enable and disable in under options menu.

    Software Stability When Editing

    With the latest windows update on August, I now experience more stability when editing video footage and screen recordings with motion graphics and video transitions combined. The software used to buffer a lot when loading motion graphics and previewing transitions.

    The second occasion was when editing mobile screen recordings. In the past, I had to export mobile screencast videos and re-imported them to the timeline in order to better match with the voice overs due to lagging.

    The new Camtasia 2021 looks like it has solved this. The loading now is seamless. But I don’t know how others editors find it. It will be interesting to know. Share your experience in the comments sections below.

    New Transitions

    This cannot go without saying. More than 100 transitions are now available for you to explore and use in Camtasia Studio 2021. I have found a couple of them I love and repeatedly use them across my vlogs.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    It was designed to fit to all occasions depending on the video that you are working on. That’s why it’s worth trying Camtasia 2021 today.

    New Feature I Find Not Useful

    At this point I still find emphasize audio feature not any useful to me at all. This makes it my less favorite feature among the new features. I prefer to adjust audio points manually than use this feature. This is because I barely notice it’s impact when I apply it to my audios while editing videos on my timeline.

    Camtasia 2021 Audio Effect

    I have watched videos of people applying it and I am still not convinced🤐.

    Do you find the Emphasize audio feature useful in your day to day edits? Let me know in the comments section below.

    Custom Library

    Finally my unto my favorite feature, custom library. This was there in the previous versions and with each update, it gets even better. It gives a sense of ownership.

    Custom Library in Camtasia 2021

    Each time I edit a video, I add one new template so that I don’t have to recreate motion graphic screens and transitions each time I produce a video. To do this, I group animated designs on my timeline and save it in the library under a name that I chose and a specific folder based on the project I am working on.

    Next time I want the template, I will only drag it and drop it on top of the video I am editing.

    This saves me a lot of time. You can modify a template as you go to suite your new requirements at hand and save it under a different name.

    Remember you can download the latest version of Camtasia 2021 using the link here. Its free to try.

    If you are a vlogger and is looking for a video editing software that is easiest to learn; then I recommend Camtasia 2021. It’s easy to learn using it.

    The interface is clean and most settings are straight forward when it comes to customization.

    Finally, if you need help to create and produce professional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a free quote here.

    Was this article helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa Review

    On April 27th 2021, the president of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta launched National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa. Ardhisasa is an online platform that allows Citizens, stakeholders and interested parties to interact with land information held and processes undertaken by Government.

    Ardhisasa Website

    Whenever someone wants to buy a land in Kenya, the first step they are advised to take is to conduct a search with the ministry of lands and ascertain the real owner of the property in which they want to purchase. This step is critical and if a buyer skips it, they might end up buying a land that is already in dispute or not for sale.

    Ardhisasa platform aims at addressing this and other land questions in Kenya. Through the information that users will access on Ardhisasa, they are able to make an informed decision and avoid being defrauded by unscrupulous land cartels.

    In this blogpost, I will shed a light on land cases in Kenya as well as review National Land Information Management System- Ardhisasa.

    Land Cases in Kenya

    In the past years, more and more land cases has been recorded in the Kenyan courts. In a recent report by the standard newspaper, at least 70 per cent of land cases in the country are still pending in Nairobi.

    That’s based on a statement by Chief Justice Martha Koome . She says Environment and Lands Court (ELC) has 13,500 pending cases with Nairobi leading with 9,500. 

    Watch Video Review

    Furthermore, to illustrate how land is critical to Kenyans, she said at least 60 per cent of cases filed in courts are land-related. It’s for these and many other reasons that Ardhisasa was launched.

    Accessing Ardhisasa Portal

    To access National Land Information Management System Ardhisasa, open your browser and go to ardhisasa.lands.go.ke. You will get to the landing page. The site is pretty neat and straight forward.

    On top of the landing page, you can see the four main things you can do on the site. These are Search and Transfer property, order a plan and order a tittle. Below that you can read and understand what Ardhisasa does.

    Ardhisasa Features

    When you scroll down a little, you can see additional services you can access. The services are organized in seven different categories namely land registration, land administration, physical planning, survey and mapping, valuation, adjudication and settlement and national land commission.

    One has to click on the category they want in order to see what’s inside. For example, when you click on land registration, you will see the services included in there.

    Read also National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Online Portal Review

    Communication And Support

    In occasions where a user is stuck, they have several ways that one can find help. The first one which many website users rarely try is the visiting the FAQ’s page. You can access this page, using the menu link on top of the site or FAQ’s link on the site footer under quick links.

    FAQ’s

    The second and most convenient way is to call Ardhisasa support team using the phone contacts below the site. And lastly, you can chat live with the support by clicking on the bubble icon below. I have tried and it’s functioning.

    Signing in to Ardhisasa

    To access any of the services listed above, you are required to sign in. First time users will be required to sign up using their National ID number. The sign process is very secure. To keep users protected, the sign process will require you to key in your ID number, phone number and e-mail for 2 Factor authentication and lastly set a password.

    Sign Up Process

    The sign up steps falls among the best practices of securing users accounts and their private data. You will be logged in once you follow these steps of registration.

    Related 3 Security Measures You Should Implement To Protect Your E-mails and Blog

    Ardhisasa User Dashboard

    This is how the dashboard looks like once you are logged in to the system. Services are placed in categories as seen earlier on the website landing page. To the left of your account are user menu items.

    Ardhisasa Dashboard

    These are services, properties, appointments, tickets, notifications and accounts. For a new user, the most useful menu item is the services. The other items will come in handy as needed as you continue interacting with the system.

    I will demonstrate to you one of the popular service feature of Property search, but before I do, I will want to shed a light on how land cases end up in court in kenya.

    How Land Cases Come Into Light

    This question is answered well on the Kenyan CID on website. In a nutshell, Land fraud cases are formally reported to the Public Complaints Office.

    The complainant is advised accordingly and if the complaint warrants investigations, the complainant is referred to the land fraud unit with a referral form. The Unit takes up the case appropriate cause of action.

    CID on Land Cases in Kenya

    You can learn more about the kind cases that they investigate on the CID website page here.

    Now lets get back to the Ardhisasa website and try to conduct a search.

    To do this, click on services and select search. You will see that you are required to complete your profile in order to start searching. As I mentioned earlier, land is a sensitive issue in Kenya, and before any information is shared with the users, they must first provide more details of themselves and prove of who they are.

    Additional Information required to conduct a search on Ardhisasa

    Additional information include uploading a passport size photo, adding security questions, adding signature and uploading copies of your National identification.

    Once you have supplied these information, you will be in a position to conduct a search on a property.

    I will not show how to do these, but am sure at this point you have a clue of the services that National Land Management System, Ardhisasa provides as well as how to navigate through the site. It’s not very complicated.

    Related How To Apply For A Tax Compliance Certificate In Kenya -Video

    Conclusion

    If you are in the process of acquiring a land, I highly will recommend you to utilize this resource in conducting your search. This is the future of land management in Kenya.

    There is a lot you will learn by using the system.

    As I conclude, I will like to know your thoughts. Have you used the Ardhisasa portal to access any of the land services? How was your experience like?:😑

    Let me know in the comments section below.

    And if you have any any questions or suggestions regarding to any of my blogposts, you can let me know on e-mail at connect@cheptiony.com

    Finally, if you are looking for professional screencast video production services, you can request a free quote on www.techtubestudio.com.

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    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.